Your Majesty the Empress, I am really not a traitor!

"No one was killed, Commander. One was injured. I was too anxious to go up the stairs just now, and sprained my ankle."

The deputy commander next to him replied very seriously.

This answer instantly broke the defenses of the seemingly ruthless Huilin, and everyone burst into laughter—before everyone came to Huilin, they were all elites from various armies in the Great Xia. Going upstairs and spraining his ankle, this buddy is really ashamed and ashamed.

"What are you laughing at, have you checked all the rooms?"

"I've checked the leader, and there are no other people. Now these are all the personnel of this chamber of commerce. This is the internal bill of the chamber of commerce we collected and the itinerary of their president. Including their letters, I think there should be something worth reading. something to watch."

The deputy commander said, and with an order, several scale guards came over carrying two large boxes.

Lingyan flipped through some of the bills, and then smiled:

"Tsk tsk, I didn't see it, Mr. President, let's not talk about whether there is any collusion with the Holy Bishop's Church. I see that in your bill, there seem to be many sources of income that have not paid taxes... "

"What nonsense are you talking about? Our Chamber of Commerce has been paying taxes according to the regulations..."

"Since that's the case, you must have paid taxes on the so-called 'tea (for hospitality)' here?"

"That's for our chamber of commerce to entertain guests for ourselves!"

"I use more than 2000 catties of tea for myself in a month? Dare I ask the chairman, do you eat tea as a meal?"

No matter how ignorant Ling Yan is of business management, she knows the problem with this desperate lie.In fact, if the account books were made public, these cunning businessmen would not have left such a big loophole.

But this account book is obviously the president's own private account, and there are traces of violent cracking on the account book. It seems that it should be locked and placed in a very hidden place, and it was found by the guards.

"Okay, let's go, just these 2000 catties of tea leaves is enough for Mr. President to enjoy prison life, and we also want to ask you about your opinion on the Holy Bishop—we will go back to Grayscale to discuss in detail .”

As Lingyan said, she dragged up the president who was like a sieve, and the others were also tied up by the guards and escorted to Huilin.

The first mission since the establishment of Huilin Office ended in victory—the fly in the ointment was that Lin Weiwei injured his foot. After Lingyan told Qin Ji, Qin Ji couldn't laugh or cry, so he could only polish the memorial presented to Xia Yuxiao Became "sprained ankle due to rushing too fiercely and hitting the enemy's ambush"...

Chapter 70 Stubborn

Full moon night.

This day is also called "Autumn Appreciation Festival" by Daxia, which is a very ancient festival.According to folklore, appreciating the moon on the Autumn Festival represents whether the weather will be smooth and rainy next year.Therefore, in the annual Autumn Festival, in addition to admiring the moon, folks will also hang up various "autumn lanterns".

There are various themes of autumn lanterns, including landscapes and figures. The most common ones are the portraits of sages in Daxia, which depict sages respected by people in Daxia from ancient times to the present.In addition to the Autumn Lantern Festival, there is another very important program, that is "Sacrifice to the Moon".

This activity is headed by the Daxia royal family, and each region has its own process and scale.Among them, the Moon Sacrifice Ceremony of the Great Xia Royal Family is the most solemn and spectacular.

The so-called sacrifice to the moon means offering sacrifices to the bright moon. At that time, all the celestial masters in the Tianshi Mansion will wear masks to attend, and worship the heaven, earth, sun and moon in the singing of "Moon Praise" and other songs by the disciples of the Tianshi Mansion, praying for peace in the world. .

As for Xia Yuxiao...

"Your Majesty, if you can't lift it, you can tell them to change it to a lighter one..."

Seeing Xia Yuxiao struggling to hold the incense burner in his hand, Qin Ji even felt a little distressed.

Cough cough, don't get me wrong, it's not because of anything else, just seeing a girl holding such a copper incense burner for so long, it really makes people feel a little sympathetic.

"Need not."

The fine sweat on Xia Yuxiao's cheeks condensed into beads of sweat, then ran across her neck, slid down to the still immature ups and downs of her chest, and then disappeared under the collar of her collar.

In this moon sacrifice, the emperor's work is actually quite tiring. According to the usual practice, after the first "Opening the Altar" song, the second one is "Moon Sacrifice Praise". 7 minutes.

During this process, the emperor would hold the bronze censer with both hands, and burn a stick of incense in the furnace. First, he would personally pray to the moon. Under the guidance of the celestial master, worship to heaven, earth and all directions.

Hold the incense burner for at least 10 minutes during the whole process, and do not put it down.The more securely the incense burner is held, the stronger the country of Great Xia will be.

The problem is that this bronze incense burner is not small, and it is very thick. It is not light in weight, and it needs to be held by the emperor for 10 minutes. This is a torturous job.

In fact, many of the emperors in the history of Daxia were lifted by two important ministers or princes on both sides because of physical reasons. Some of them were too weak, and they didn’t even need to reach out to lift them. .

But Xia Yuxiao couldn't do that.

Although she is a woman, theoretically she does not have to hold it alone (after all, it is difficult for someone like Xia Yuxiao who is not strong in martial arts to hold a bronze incense burner for 10 minutes), but this is the first official ceremony since she took the throne. It would not be a good thing for her if the moon sacrifice ceremony was perfunctory in the first moon sacrifice ceremony after becoming the emperor.

In theory, this is a hurdle that must be passed, but in practice... I can only say that Xia Yuxiao is not a force character after all, and asking her to hold the incense burner for 10 minutes is too embarrassing for her. In less than 3 minutes, my hands were sore.

"Your Majesty, why didn't you practice in advance?" Qin Ji couldn't help asking.

It is indeed difficult to hold this incense burner for 10 minutes, but it will not be so if His Majesty goes to exercise in advance.In fact, His Majesty's potential is quite great, and the strength to hold him in the previous attack was definitely not small.

"Where did I get the time, you can't let me lift something while working, right?" Xia Yuxiao gave him an annoyed look.

"Well... Theoretically speaking, if your majesty is determined enough, you can indeed do it in 10 minutes, but I am afraid that with your majesty's muscle strength, you may not be able to hold a pen the next day. "

Qin Ji gave his opinion very faithfully.

"What do you say?" Xia Yuxiao gritted her teeth.

Apart from her objection to Qin Ji's words, her gnashing of teeth was also largely due to the fact that she was almost unable to hold on anymore.

I can't hold it anymore, and the time has not reached 6 minutes...

Seeing how she gritted her teeth and persisted, Qin Ji bent down, and then gently pinched the tender flesh of her arm near the armpit.

"Ah~"

Xia Yuxiao couldn't help but yelled out. The sound made people feel tingly. Qin Ji was so frightened that he quickly turned around and looked around. Fortunately, everyone was concentrating on preparing for the Moon Sacrifice Ceremony and didn't notice the sound.

"Your Majesty, please don't make any strange noises."

Xia Yuxiao stared at him, and put the incense burner on the ground: "Then why are you disturbing me!?"

"Your Majesty, do you feel that the muscles there are so sore and numb that they go limp when I pinch them?" Qin Ji asked with a smile.

"Yes, what's wrong?"

"If you are so stiff again, I think your majesty will stop using your arms tomorrow." Qin Ji said based on his own experience.

"...Isn't it just that you won't be able to use your arm tomorrow? It doesn't matter, let's go all out."

Tsk, this mouth is really hard.

Qin Ji walked up while complaining in his heart, and then said: "Well, if your majesty insists on doing this, I don't need to say more, but afterward, please don't blame me."

Xia Yuxiao waved her hand, indicating that she would not care about these things.

Of course, in Qin Ji's eyes, her seemingly unrestrained actions were really ridiculous.

Hard-spoken, right?Labor and management want to see what you will look like tomorrow after 10 minutes of hard work.

It's not that Qin Ji doesn't want to help her. In fact, there are many ways to save Xia Yuxiao's effort in this ceremony. The easiest way is to "float" the incense burner with a small levitation technique. There is no need to completely levitate it. Just using a little spiritual energy to reduce the weight is enough to make Xia Yuxiao feel much better.

But this is magic after all. If there are some knowledgeable people in the crowd who realize that she is using magic to keep the incense burner, then the impact will be great.

So there was no other way but to let Xia Yuxiao stand up on her own.

With the end of the singing to open the altar, Xia Yuxiao recovered a lot after being massaged and relaxed by several celestial masters. She solemnly arranged her clothes and walked towards the brightly lit moon altar.

She took the incense burner in the hand of the celestial master next to her, and the incense stuck in the incense burner was lit. Then, she raised the incense burner and prayed to the moon.

In fact, the central idea of ​​the prayers is to hope that the heaven, earth, sun and moon will make the weather in Daxia smooth, so that the country of Daxia will last and so on.

Afterwards, the celestial master sprinkled the sacrificial wine in his hand to the sky, and the disciples of the celestial master's mansion who had already prepared, immediately sang "Praise to the Moon" with the sound of bells and chimes:

"The altar-opening talisman tells the Moon Fairy,

The prosperity of the Xinqing Kingdom crowns the heavens.

The ceremonies of all nations set the world,

Worship Heaven and Earth Tong Taixuan..."

It was really hard for Qin Ji to describe that feeling.

The sound of bells and chimes sounded in unison, and thousands of disciples chanted the sacrificial music that had never been interrupted since thousands of years. On the moon altar, bright lights illuminated the entire altar. The same bright moon appeared in the sky. Like two bright moons.

Surrounding the altar, stood soldiers holding sacrificial vessels, showing the strength of this ancient empire in front of the people of Great Xia.

It's beautiful and spectacular.

Of course, the premise is that the seemingly calm His Majesty's arms don't tremble slightly - as an important minister, he is relatively close, so he quickly noticed this detail.

You see, this is what happens when you talk hard.

Chapter 71 Banquet

After the moon sacrifice ceremony was completed, for Xia Yuxiao, everything was not over yet.

In the evening, there is also an autumn banquet, and this banquet is actually designed to get close to the officials. The whole palace is brightly lit and the wine is intertwined.

Xia Yuxiao sat on her jade seat, then raised her wine glass, and began to speak to the leader. As soon as she raised her wine glass, her hands kept shaking like she had Parkinson's.

All the officials present noticed these abnormalities, and they looked at Xia Yuxiao's trembling hands suspiciously.

"Your Majesty is physically and mentally exhausted from preparing for the grand ceremony today. I will respect you on behalf of Your Majesty for this glass of wine today."

Seeing that Xia Yuxiao could hardly hold the wine glass anymore, Qin Ji said quickly.

However, Xia Yuxiao looked at him in surprise.

Qin Ji quickly winked at her.

What are you doing, you still plan to hold a glass of wine and pretend that nothing is wrong?Your small arms are about to lose the ability to hold the wine glass. It would be a shame to throw the wine glass on the ground in front of civil and military officials at the autumn night feast, right?

After hesitating for a moment, Xia Yuxiao reluctantly handed over the wine glass to Qin Ji.

Qin Ji held the wine glass with both hands, and drank it down in one gulp.

The civil and military officials looked at each other, looking at Qin Ji with a hint of complexity in their expressions.

In the end, they drank a glass of wine with Qin Ji.

The atmosphere of the banquet quickly returned to normal.

"Your Majesty, your wine glass..."

Qin Ji handed the wine glass back to Xia Yuxiao's hand, and it wasn't until this time that he realized that something was wrong.

I'm sorry, this is His Majesty's own wine glass!

He was only thinking about not making Xia Yuxiao embarrassing in front of all the officials, but he forgot a very important issue-it was already presumptuous for him to toast all the officials on behalf of His Majesty, but he still directly obtained from His Majesty's hands. She took her wine glass and drank it all in one gulp to toast all the officials!

From his point of view, he was just in a hurry, and then made a toast.But from the perspective of North Korean and Chinese officials...

This is how the Taiwei blatantly took His Majesty's wine glass from His Majesty's hand, and then made a toast to everyone in His Majesty's name...